“It was horrid, very very horrid”: a student perspective on coming to an inner‐city university in the UK

In the United Kingdom Higher Education is propelled by Government policy and monitored by university recruitment, retention and teaching and learning strategies — and yet when (international) students arrive at these publicly funded and accountable institutions the results can be “horrid, very very horrid”. Exploring the relationship between Government influence and corporate behaviour within the Higher Educational (HE) context of the United Kingdom (UK), this paper provides an overview of current Governmental policy towards resourcing higher education, and considers the impact of these policies for ‘Widening Participation’ students, including international students. The paper concludes with the experiences of one student, who narrates his “story” and as the story unfolds, we start to view the “system” of Government, University and Course through the eyes of an ‘outsider’. (Sinfield, Burns & Holley 2004). This personal narrative illustrates how systems — Governmental, Institutional and at Course level — can totally fail an individual.